Charcoal burner



ST. CLAIR C. HOLLAN CHARCOAL BURNER Filed June 9, l93'7 2 Sheets-Sheet l TTOHWWEY Jfli. W W IE: 1 TU will; u will; fl g U mw & Mm

aw mm Wow. 7,, W39 51'. CLAIR c. HQLLANW CHARCOAL BURNER Filed June 9, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 7, 1939 PATENT OFFIQE CHARCOAL BURNER St. Clair 0. Holland, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Application .lune 9, 1937, Serial No. 147,331 In Canada December 10, 1936 6 Claims. (Cl. 126-43) This invention relates to improvements in charcoal burners used in connection with railway cars to prevent freezing of fruits, vegetables and other perishable products.

More particularly, the invention comprises a generally improved and simplified burner construction in which a single damper is provided in conjunction with a ventilator to control both the inflow of combustion supporting air and the outflow of combustion gases. In the present in stance the invention is shown embodied in a burner which is adapted to be mounted beneath the floor of a car and is equipped with a water heating coiladapted to be connected in circuit With the circulating pipes of a hot water heating system located within the car.

According to this invention a single damper is mounted at the front of the burner so that its upper portion controls the outer end of the smoke flue leading from the flre pot while its lower portion controls the outer end of an air inflow passage through which combustion supporting air is supplied to the ash pit below the grate on which the charcoal or other fuel is burned. A ventilator is arranged over the upperportion of the damper and is designed so that, when the car is in motion, the resulting flow of air through the ventilator tends to set up a suction in the smoke flue which assists in drawing out the smoke and products of combustion.

Proceeding now to a more detailed description reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l is a fragmentary front elevation of a charcoal burner constructed in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 3 is a front plan view of the base or tionary element of the damper.

Fig. 4; is a front elevation of the movable element of the damper.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional View of the complete damper assembly.

Fig. 6 is atop plan view of the ventilator which is used in conjunctionwith the damper.

Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the ventilator.

Fig. 8 is an end elevation of the ventilator.

In the present instance I have shown the burner provided with an outer casing 5 of rectangular configuration but this is not essential since the casing may be cylindrical or other suitable shape. A fuel hopper E5 of substantially inverted frusto-conical shape is supported in the staupper portion of the casing by suitable supporting brackets l. The lower portion of hopper i5 is seated in the flaring mouth 8 of a cast metal fire pot 9 provided vwth a suitable grate ill, the latter being spaced above the bottom H of the fire pot to provide the ash pit 53. The hopper t is provided with a charging opening M directly opposite a similar opening E5 in the front wall 5a of the casing 5, said opening 25 being normally closed by a suitable charging door 15. The open- 1 ings i and it are connected by a sheet metal flue member is through which the fuel is introduced into the hopper 6.

A smoke and gas outlet flue i9 is provided directly below the sheet metal flue l8. Flue i9 is bounded at the sides and bottom by a single sheet of metal bent into U-form toprovide a bottom wall 2d and side walls 24, the upper edges of the latter being preferably secured to the bottom portion of the flue ill. The inner end of flue l9 communicates with the combustion chamber 22 through an opening 23 provided in the upper portion of the flre pot 9. Directly below the flue Hi there is provided a sheet metal air inflow flue 24 presenting an outer horizontal leg 25 and an inner vertical leg 26. The flues i9 and 24 are enclosed in the sense that there is no communication between them. Combustion supporting air passing inwardly through flue 24 is delivered to the ash pit it through one or more openings 21 in the lower portion of the fire pot.

The outer ends of the flues l9 and 2t are controlled, by a single damper generally indicated at 29. This damper comprises a stationary base plate 3! and a movable damper element 3| provided with complementary openings 3th and 31b (compare Figs. 1, 3 and 4) adapted to be moved into and out of registry by rotation of the movable element 3!.

The damper plate 35] is bolted, riveted, or otherwise secured to the front wall 5a of the burner casing 5 over a single large opening 32 which communicates with the outer ends of the flues I9 and'Zt. The movable damper element 3i (Figs. 2 and 5) is secured to the base plate 30 by a central pivot bolt 33 and is held in close contact with the base plate by a suitable spring fi l surrounding said bolt. This spring is seated in a recess 35 formed in the outer face of the damper element 3! and is confined in compression between the bottom wall of the recess and a washer 36 which is held in place by the nuts 31.

A ventilator, generally indicated at 39, is se-- cured to the wall 5a. of the burner casing 5 soas to overlie the upper half of the damper assembly 29. This ventilator comprises a sheet metal structure presenting a front Wall 40 which is spaced from the casing wall 5a by top and bottom walls 4i and 412. At its opposite ends the ventilator is provided with attaching flanges 43 which are bolted, riveted or otherwise secured to the casing wall 5a. Deflectors 44 are secured in place between the top and bottom walls of the ventilator so that air entering the ventilator at either end is deflected outwardly through a front opening 45 provided in the front wall 40. At each side of the opening 45 the front wall of the ventilator is preferably curved, as indicated at 4! in Fig. 6. The bottom wall of the deflector is also preferably curved upwardly between its ends, as shown in Fig. '7. By comparing Figs. 6 and 8 it will be seen that the particular curvature of the front and bottom walls of the ventilator serves, in conjunction with the deflectors 44, to gradually restrict the air inflow passages at the opposite ends of the ventilator so that the cross sectional area of each passage gradually diminishes as it approaches the front openings 45. By this construction air entering either end of the ventilator is caused to travel with gradually increasing velocity toward and through the front opening 45.

The ventilator 39 is left open at both ends so that air will pass therethrough from either end dependent upon the direction of travel of the car in which the ventilator is installed. When the damper 29 is open the air which enters one end of the ventilator 39 and is deflected outwardly through the front opening 45 creates a suction in the flue l9 (Fig. 2) which assists in drawing out the gases and products of combustion from the fire pot 22, saidgases and products of combustion being discharged through the flue land through the damper openings 30b and 3!!) to the ventilator 39, from whence they pass through the front opening 45. At the same time combustion sup-porting air enters the air inflow flue 24 through the lower damper openings 31b and 30b and passes downwardly through the vertical leg 26 of the flue 24 to the air inlet opening El of the fire pot. A guard plate 4% is preferably suspended from the ventilator 39 to overlie the lower half of the damper assembly 29.

When it is desired'to operate the burner under maximum draft conditions the movable damper plate element 3! is turned to bring its openings Slb in full registration with the openings 3% of the stationary damper plate 30. When it is desired to regulate or retard the progress of combustion the movable damper element 3| is rotated so that the solid portions separating the openings filb are positioned to partially cover or throttle the openings 3% to the desired extent. When the damper element 3| is turned so that it completely closes the openings 3% in the stationary damper plate 30 the inflow of combustion supporting air and the outflow of gases are both completely arrested so that the fire in the burner will be caused to die out in short order.

The movable damper element 3! is operated, through the agency of an axially movable operating rod 49 which, in turn, is shifted axially in either direction by screw-threaded engagement with a hand wheel 58 confined between suitable brackets 5i. Adjacent the end remote from the hand wheel 5!], the rod 49 is provided with a pin 52 engaged in a slot 53 formed in a lug extension 54 of the damper element 3!. It is also preferred to provide indicating means to facilitate positioning of the damper in a definite heat control position. To this end the rod 49 is provided with a pointer 55 cooperating with suitable markings 56 on a stationary scale 5% fastened to the front wall 5a of the burner casing.

The burner described herein is mounted beneath the floor of a refrigerator car and is equipped with a hot water heating coil 59 adapted to be connected to the circulating pipes of a hot water heating system located within the car. The connections between the coil and the circulating pipes of the heating system may be made as shown in U. S. Patent 2,076,961 to C. D. Niven, dated April 13, 1937, or in any other suitable manner.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A burner of the character described comprising a casing having a fuel magazine in the upper portion thereof, a fire pot arranged in the lower portion of the casing to receive fuel from said magazine, a horizontal smoke flue extending outwardly from a lateral opening in the upper wall portion of the fire pot to the front of said casing, an air admission flue including an outer horizontal portion positioned directly below the smoke flue and an inner Vertical portion extending downwardly from the inner ends of the horizontal portion to deliver air toward the ash pit of the fire pot, a single rotary damper mounted at the front of the casing to control the outflow of combustion supporting air through the air flue, a ventilator casing secured to the burner casing so as to overlie the upper half of the damper, said ventilator comprising a casing which is open at both ends and is provided with a further opening in its front wall located directly in front of the upper portion of the damper, deflectors arranged in the ventilator casing so that air entering either end of said casing is directed toward the front opening and a baffle plate depending from the bottom wall of the ventilator casing in spaced relation to the lower half of the damper.

2. A burner comprising a casing having a fuel magazine in the upper portion thereof, a firepot arranged in the lower portion of the casing to receive fuel from the magazine, a grate in the lower portion of said firepot, an enclosed flue arranged to conduct products of combustion from the upper portion of said firepot to an opening in I said casing, an enclosed air inlet flue arranged to conduct combustion supporting air from a second opening in said casing to a space below said grate, a single damper controlling both of said openings, and an aspirator comprising a hood secured to said casing, said hood being open at both ends, having an aperture aligned with the first mentioned opening in said casing and an opening in said hood opposite said aperture, said hood being formed so that air entering either of said ends flows through said last mentioned opening and ejects therewith gases from said first mentioned flue.

3. A burner comprising a casing having a fuel magazine in the upper portion thereof, a firepot arranged in the lower portion of the casing to receive fuel from the magazine, a grate in the lower portion of said firepot, an enclosed flue arranged to conduct products of combustion from the upper portion of said firepot to an opening I.

in said casing, an enclosed air inlet flue arranged to conduct combustion supporting air from a second opening in said casing to a space below said grate, a single damper controlling both of said openings, and a ventilator utilizing air movements exterior of said burner to eject said products of combustion from the first mentioned opening in said casing, the wall of the casing having said second opening therein being substantially parallel to said air movements.

4:. A burner comprising a casing having a fuel magazine in the upper portion thereof, a firepot arranged in the lowerportion of the casing to receive fuel from the magazine, a grate in the lower portion of said firepot, an enclosed fluearranged to conduct products of combustion from the upper portion of said firepot to an opening in said casing, an enclosed air inlet flue arranged to conduct combustion supporting air from a second opening in said casing to a space below said grate, a single damper controlling both of said openings, and means to eject said products of combustion from the first mentioned opening in said casing, said means comprising a hood arranged to direct air moving exterior of said heater adjacent said first mentioned opening, thereby ejecting said products of combustion.

5. A burner having a fuel magazine in the upper portion thereof, a firepot arranged in the lower portion thereof to receive fuel from the magazine, a grate in the lower portion of said firepot, a flue arranged to conduct products of combustion from the upper portion of said firepot to the exterior of said burner, an air inlet flue arranged to conduct combustion supporting air from exterior of said burner to a space below said grate, a single damper controlling the exterior ends of both of said flues and a ventilator utilizing air movements exterior of said burner to eject said products of combustion from said first mentioned flue, said air inlet flue being substantially normal to said air movements.

6. A burner comprising an outer casing provided with upper and lower damper openings, a fuel magazine mounted in the upper portion of the casing, a firepot arranged in the lower portion of the casing to receive fuel from the magazine, the circumferential wall of the fire pot be ing spaced from the surrounding wall of the casing and provided with upper and lower openings extending therethrough, the upper opening constituting an outlet for products of combination and the lower opening serving as an air inlet passage placing the ash pit of the firepot in communication with the surrounding space enclosed by the casing, a flue forming an enclosed passage through which products of combustion are conducted from the upper opening of the firepot to the upper damper opening of the casing, a second flue forming an enclosed passage through which combustion supporting air is conducted from the lower damper opening of the casing to said space enclosed by the casing, a single damper arranged over the upper and lower damper openings of the casing-to control the flow through both of said fiues, and an aspirator comprising a hood secured to said casing, said hood being open at both ends, having an aperture aligned with the upper opening in said casing and an opening in said hood opposite said aperture, said hood being formed so that air entering either of said ends flows through said, last mentioned opening and ejects therewith gases from said first mentioned flue.

ST. CLAIR C. HOLLAND. 

